Origins
by Shadows of the Kasrkins
Summary: When a UEC ODST is nearly killed when finding a relic which transports him to the dragon realms, but this world has few surprises for him and someone for him to fight for.
1. Chapter 1

**Origins**

The year is 2055 and humanity was spread to the stars under the protection and government of the UEC (United Earth Coalition) with its vast navy and armies of men to defend her colonies. But as man expanded a race of aliens saw humans as a blight on the universe and took it upon themselves to remove it. The K'Zaux, a race of upright walking reptiles that resembled a legendary dragon, two horns on their heads that curved back, frills along their cheeks… their eyes have a predatory gleam in their silted pupils.

**Warning invasion detected****…. planet?... Tecar…. class?... Industrial…. Production?... negative…. Research?... Positive…. Experimental artifact…. Invasion size?... Leviathan…. Dispatch 5th fleet…. estimated arrival…. three weeks…. Unacceptable!... Dispatch 479th ODSTs aboard Battleship Titus… Acceptable… orders sent… reinforcements warping in…. **

_Journal excerpt from UEC Defenders( We fought day and night against enemies that had superior weapons and support, we fought like cornered rats…. huddled in pockets of rubble and whatever cover we could hid in. The first time we were fired upon by these creatures one of their energy weapons hit a friend of mine… you… you… could see his flesh melting away were he was hit in the head, hell the shit ate through ceramic plates. I just pray to whoever finds this that they get the hell out this hole and off this damned planet… because god knows I'm not.) Pvt. Jenkins of the 57th PDF(Planetary defense force), KIA on Tecar killed by enemy fire while protecting civilians, died a hero of the UEC._

We reached the planet only seven hours after D-Day and everything had gone to hell but we were hell jumpers and we had a mission… to secure a special package planeside. We would be jumping right into the municipal along pre-designated paths that fancy computers had plotted for our pods or most likely coffins after we left ship this run. I had no trust or even wished to trust those damned computers, experience has taught me over the years that those things have a very… very small margin for error and falling from orbit was all but perfect in a steel coffin that was plummeting towards the ground at terminal velocity. I'm no fool and I knew as soon as we saw the blockade we had to run that this was no two-way trip, that there was a damn good chance that everything we were about to do was in a futile effort to protect some tech. But I'm a soldier and soldiers aren't paid to think just fight and die and that's what we were going to do.

We ate our last hot meals as the captain and the officers in the bridge disputed over how they would shatter the blockade and drop us into the fires of hell. I had a melancholy of feeling rushing through my mind when we donned our armor, Mk. VI Specops pressurized combat suits with titanium plates over the chest, thighs, and lower legs. Underneath that was ceramic plates followed by two layers of Kevlar weaved for anti-flak and stopping ballistic projectiles. I picked up my M-89SP rifle from its rack, the M-89SP was the special forces variant of the normal 89 which fired a .30 round. it was a bull pup design for extra stopping power. The SP fired a smaller 7.62 cartridge, but they were loaded with AP-Shredder rounds which would make mince meat out off most infantry.

I followed the line of men down towards our pods, shaking hands with a few others giving each other hopes for save landings. I climbed into my pod after securing my equipment in the rifle and backpack slots next to my seat. Once in I pulled down the hatch and locked it in place then the ship's computer moved my pod out onto the drop beams which several other pods hung from. And we waited… I fell asleep in my pod only to be awaken by the thumping of magnetic clamps releasing . Like a meteor shower we fell towards the surface. We observed the clouds fall past us as we plummeted down systematically through the layers of the atmosphere. The clouds parted exposing a shocking sight of a ruined city barely any building were whole not one was untouched, but I didn't get time to look long as sirens blared throughout the pod.

'warning radiation spike… "wholly shit that's no spike it's the reactor plant its going critical"' a voice crackled over the radio inside the pod 'adjust trajectory…we…nee…' The radio cut off replacing the person's voice with static not a second later the city below was enveloped in a brilliant eye-stabbing flash, it happened so fast my helmet's visor couldn't polarize fast enough to save my eyes from the pain. The last thing I remembered was the pod spinning out of control and me yelling and my head screaming that I was about to die, then my pod impacted something hard… probably a building and then I blacked out.

It was day light when we dropped… when I came back around it was dark... almost midnight, and I woke to find myself laying back in my pods chair on my back. the pod having crashed into the street and skipping into a building if the ceiling of an office building above my canopy was anything to judge by. with a few codes punched into the pod's computer the hatch blew off and embedded itself into the ceiling of the room. I yanked myself out of the seat and climbed unsteadily out of the pod and began yanking my rifle and pack out of their holding slots. I pulled my three bandoliers out my backpack putting two of them over each shoulder to an 'X' across my chest and the other around my waist just above my belt. After my webbing was in place I through my pack over my back and picked up my rifle and began to edge to the hole my pod made in the wall.

It was dark outside and looked like it was snowing but it was no snow just atomic ash from the nuclear fallout that was decently irradiated. I spotted a strangle untouched building across the street , I checked both ways for enemies… seeing none I sprinted across the street and used my shoulder to bash open the solid wood door. I looked around the inside… it was a tea shop, bags with different languages on them lined the walls and shelves of the store, on the walls of the shop were designs of Chinese dragons snaking through the air.

But I need a place to stay away from the radiation for a day or two and the shop's walls wouldn't stop the radiation, but… I did like tea so I pocketed a few bags and by few I mean six one pound bags. hey, shot me I like tea and soon it would be too irradiated to drink unless you fancy cancer and radiation poisoning. Seeing nothing for cover in the main section of the shop I moved to the back of the shop to were the owner would have spent his off hours. The door way was blocked by hanging beads which I parted with the barrel of my rifle and an armored hand, the room was untouched to say the least. I walked in and found a bed and a round table with three chairs and an old TV. A nice Persian rug covered the floor and I decided to take a seat on the bed, which… turned out to be a feather bed. But before I laid back I noticed something off with the carpet under the table, an outline of a square was in the rug pushing up from under it… something was under the table. I walked over to the table and pushed it to the side and moved the chairs out of my way, in the carpet was a square cut… I grabbed the cut section and pulled it up exposing a trap door.

A smile spread across my face it was an escape tunnel at least that's what I hoped it was, opening the door I found a dimly lit tunnel below me shrugging I dropped down into the tunnel flipping my rifle's flashlight on. A voice echoed in my head, the walls around me were made of aged gold from god knows when. the voice echoed again this time I could hear it… 'come… come… come to me…' the base of my spine tingled with fear and my palms began to sweat I shined my flash light down the tunnel. A round door with a dragon's head in the center reflected the light back at me from its golden shine. My curiosity got the better of me and I began to walk down the tunnel looking at all the strange words carved into the walls as I drew closer to the end more and more voices began to fill my head. the golden head opened and a flat tongue was exposed, on the center of the tongue was the outline of a hand and in the center of the outline was a hole. I held up my hand and looked at the palm. Then looked at the imprint and back to my hand… I reached out laying my hand onto the imprint.

As soon as my hand fell onto the imprint the mouth snapped closed and pain bolted up my arm and fire began to flow through my vines. I tried to scream but no words came from my mouth… instead I fell to my knees gasping for air as my whole body began to feel like it was on fire. My brain couldn't take it anymore and retreated into unconsciousness to my relief.

I bolted up right looking around wildly I was laying in a meadow in the middle of a forest, lake next to me were a few deer were drinking from its clear pristine waters. 'Where the hell am I' was all I could think… one second I'm in a ruined and nuked city and now I'm in the middle of a planet that appears untouched by civilization. I found it beautiful yet disturbing to be sitting here with no idea of how I got here.

I just prayed I could find someone that could help me. But as I was thinking this a soft '_twang'_ and one of deer dropped to the ground next to the lake, an arrow protruding out of its side were I presumed its heart lay. I was in a patch of tall grass watching not moving, for fear of the person responseable not being friendly. A few loud foot steps and cracks of twigs with the crunching of leafs alerted to me to his approach, as soon as it came into view I knew it was no human… no it was some kind of anthro cheetah with a bow in its hand looking at the deer it fell. I rose with rifle in hand but with the barrel lowered to the ground, the cheetah noticed me out the corner of its eye and turned fully to face me. But it froze not being able to tell what I was, so I took the opportunity to get closer and approached slowly and carefully with a few motions of my hand to show I meant no harm.

I decided that as a show of trust I would show my face and removed my helmet, griping it in both hands I pushed the two release buttons and the helmet disengaged with a pop and hiss of pressure. Fresh air fill my lungs and a breathed it in tasting the freshness, my nose picking the mottled cacophony of smells. Fresh air…

** So if you like please R&R, if you don't… well… your SOL so skedaddle and don't complain. **


	2. New friends New enemies

The cheetah stared at my helmetless face with a puzzled yet shocked expression, before speaking "You are look like an ape but you're not… what are you?" I smiled he thought I could be a monkey, well he wasn't too far from the idea of what humans came from but he was probably working off the only thing he has seen that looks like me. "I am human" I answered with a smile and outstretched hand, It couldn't hurt to have a friend in this unknown world.

I had no idea how much this cheetah would help me. The two of us exchanged pleasantries to say the least, but upon the mention of not being far from what was considered a great capital and the fact that he offered to guide me there since he was on his way there "It's only a half-day's walk from here, so we should reach the walls before sun down." I looked at the deer he fell before I had interrupted him, he must of noticed me staring at it. "Do not worry it was just a comfort to travel on a full stomach we can finish today and I will take you to the best Inn. But may I ask do you not have normal clothes… I do not thing the guards will appreciate a strange warrior in their town. I would say an odd creature is better than an odd threat, don't you agree?" I simply nodded and began to take off my armor.

First I dropped the chest plate disengaged the shoulder plates, next I took of the bulky Kevlar double weave vest exposing my all black ODST uniform with grey shoulders. I left the combat pants part of the suit on and packed the rest into my expandable back pack which I strapped my rifle to the side of but kept my pistol in my chest holster which was under my left arm, seeing as I'm right handed. The Cheetah nodded with enthusiasm and the two of us set off.

I wasn't even five hours into the walk and I was glad for all the physical training we go through in jump school, which this walk would probably turn out to be about as long as the cross country hike we had to do towards the end of our training. But time passes quickly to when you have someone to talk to.

"So tell me human what is your name?" the cheetah asked me, I smiled at my traveling companion "Carson, Yours?" The cheetah looked to the sky before replying "Sparrow ".

"So what were you going to the city for, before I so rudely interrupted" I asked, The cheetah laughed heartedly. "No you did rudely interrupt anything it's good to have someone to travel with. But to answer your question I'm looking for a group of-" The cheetah stopped putting an arm in front of me "Do you hear that?" He asked

I Listened to the sounds and found none it was quiet… too quiet, I unstrapped my rifle from the side of my pack while the cheetah restrung his bow/walking stick and drew an arrow from his quiver. "Do you know what it is?" I asked, the cheetah nodded his head "Wyvern"

As if on cue the top of the tree to the right of our trail burst into a shower of leaves and branches and something big slammed into the cheetah. turning I saw a dragon like reptile trying to bite into Sparrow but he held it back with his legs to its chest . I took the moment to fire a burst into its side the AP-shredder rounds tore into the creature but only enraged it. It leapt off of Sparrow and into the air and then dropped onto me slamming into me with full force. The impact knocked me to the ground driving the breath out of me and my rifle skidded away from my hands, and the Wyvern hissed in my face the frills along its cheeks vibrated and before I could draw my pistol it sank its teeth into my shoulder.

I couldn't help but cry out in pain, but I still had enough strength to pull my trusty sidearm from its holster and fire four .45 ACP rounds into its chest. the Wyvern sized up which caused it to bite harder into my shoulder but then fell off me dead letting go of my shoulder, which by now had sufficiently soaked the top left half of my shirt with blood.

The cheetah was standing over me with a morbid look on his face, which had me puzzled "What? I killed it" The cheetah just shook his head "Wyverns are venomous, very toxic to say the least, but I have a few herbs to slow it down enough for us to get to the city and get it out of you, hopefully…"

He pulled some herbs out of his leather pack and handed them to me "Eat these while I put a salve on your shoulder." Sparrow began to put a bandage covered in a foul smelling paste on my shoulder wrapping the bandage down under my right arm and tying it off at my back. He patted me on the back and pulled me up and then handed me my rifle which I tied back to my pack that now only hung by one strap off of my right shoulder.

The rest of the walk passed by in a haze we did talk, well I tried, but I never knew we reached the walls all I remember was him telling me that we made it and the I passed out.

When I woke I was laying on a feather bed in what would account to a hospital, but what really spooked me was the reptilian head hovering over me which caused me to let out an indignant 'eep' which only made the face smile. When I turned to see the rest of the body I found myself not staring at a Wyvern but a full on dragon who was staring at me with unveiled curiosity. "So you're the one that Sparrow brought in, huh?" When she mentioned Sparrow I looked around only to find him missing, but the dragoness as I could tell from the feminine voice cued into my thoughts. "He left with a few friends, he said if you were to wake up to tell you to go to the Inn just down the street. The name of it is the 'Lucky Wyvern'."

I nodded and looked around to find my stuff sitting in a chair next to my bed along with my holster. I put on my holster and pack and said good bye to the nurse and left the hospital if you could call it that. Once out on the street I spotted the Inn it was off to my right down the street on the corner of a four way intersection.

I set off toward the Inn nodding my head to a few passer bys, though I did find myself I an awkward bunch when a, I must saythough not being human a striking dragoness brushed against me and gave me a wink as she passed by. I gulped and made my way into the Inn which was bustling with people but I didn't need to look for Sparrow because he saw me as soon as I came in. He was shouting my name and waving, so I made my way over to his table which had a few others at it. Another cheetah a female by the looks and three dragons two nesses' and a drake who was covered in red scales. one of the dragonesses was sitting closer to the male but the other had an open seat in between the two, more precisely the only open seat. Which I took as my own, The dragoness had all black scales except for her underbelly which was a dark blue and her horns all six curved straight back, her eyes when she looked at me were a bright blue. The one that was leaning against the male had green scales and a brown under belly with golden eyes, her two horn curved back and then bent up slightly. The male was completely red and also had red eyes with horns like a mountain goat. The female cheetah was lovely looking though I could tell by the way she leaned against Sparrow that there was something between the two.

Sparrow was the first one to talk "so It's good to see you up and about after nearly dying of venom at the gates, you're lucky our kind shadow dragoness Ombra was here to take you to the healers, since these two!" The cheetah pointed at the two mates "Were too busy to help." The pair blushed and did say anything. "But don't worry Carson, Ombra thought you were so cute passed out" He teased the dragoness next to me who looked away blushing I presumed.

"But hey let's celebrate a long travel done and lucky bastard still breathing." Everyone including myself nodded, Sparrow waved a waitress over a cheetah wearing a green dress. "What can I get for you rowdy bunch?" She asked and she began taking everyone's orders and when she got to me I was at a loss for words "Oh get him a flagon of mead" Sparrow said the waiter nodded and left.

"You're in for it now Carson" Sparrow laughed along with everyone else, but I did have to ask one thing before I most likely got drunker than a skunk. "We're will I stay at I don't have a home?" Sparrow snickered "you can stay with Ombra she has the room in her home, and you won't be kept up all night by ether me or those two" He said pointing at the two dragons to my right.

In my mind it couldn't be all that bad she looked nice enough and well I was a sucker for none-humans given my last time on leave of my ship. A rather nice insect like alien took me home with her and let's say a lot of pleasant things went on that night. So I wasn't at all appalled by the idea and I did find it a little nice that see thought of me as cute. But I didn't get too much time to think about before the waitress set down the large dish with all our drinks mostly mead except for Ombra who ordered wine.

We drank and joked for a few hours I had only sipped a little of my mead not wanting to go full on yet which I would be glad of. The sound of the door slamming open echoed through the Inn and everything went quiet. I heard a faint 'oh no' from Sparrow and turned to see a group of dragons walking towards our table everyone but me stood up. The leader of the group a blue dragon with white under belly headed straight for Ombra. he was big to say the least, in comparison standing next to Ombra she only had a few inches over me but this guy he had at least a foot.

Ombra growled at him "Go away Frost." The blue dragon only tilted his head and smiled "That's no way you sound treat you soon to be mate."

I could sense that Ombra didn't like him at all but the two dragons flanking Frost were pretty damn big but I was the only one that could step in before things got out of hand, so I did. I got up from my seat and marched right up to stand In front of Ombra my right hand on my pistol, there was going to be no repeats of the Wyvern. Frost glared needles at me "So who is this, some valiant little ape that wants to stand up to me. HA! I killed tons of your no good race and you think you can stop me from taking what's mine?" Frost laughed at me.

I smirked and then began laughing which caused Frost to stop and look at me with a look that could kill "What are you laughing for?" He growled. I drew my pistol and pointed it at his head "You think you can kill me? Now that's the motherfucking joke of the year, now why don't you leave us alone before I bury you." I finished with a smirk and cocked back the hammer of my 1911 with my thumb.

He roared at me and raised a paw to strike and just as the paw started to fall towards me I fired, everyone jumped at the load '_bang_' my pistol produced when it fired and the bullet tore right into the base of the dragon's neck. blood spurted out in a fountain of scarlet onto the floor and Frost toppled backwards landing at the feet of his two groupies.

I walked back to the table and sat down before taking a nice a healthy swig from my flagon. The rest of our time passed without incident as the almost dead dragon was drug off to the healers. We all sat down and went back to drinking and I got a round on the house which I regretted as soon as I finished because I was so drunk I passed out from it. I can only faintly remember being picked up and carried off by who I presumed to be Ombra.


	3. A sad story

"Uh…. were the hell am I" I groaned, I was laying on my back rain pouring from a dark void above me, but I could see leafless lifeless braches above my head. I sat up to find myself sitting in a dead forest the trees looked burned and the ground was black with ash. The rain was black and felt like a sludge against my skin. But I was broken from my inspection of this hellish landscape by a deep rasping voice.

"Who dares enter my domain… who dares tread on my lands, in my lands…" I slowly stood looking around for the owner of the voice but found nothing except a slowly encroaching mist. "A… Human?"

The mist swirled and transformed into a black suffocating cloud of malevolence tendrils wrapping around my body to my alarm, I backed up but didn't seem to anywhere. "Here… let me show you secrets… that no man should see… short lives hate surprises…" The clouds and tendrils parted in front of me exposing a grisly image, it was the square of Warfang. The cobblestone covered with blood and bodies, in the center stood a dragon of pure Darkness. I saw myself standing in full armor, blood seeping from holes in the plates and between the plates. My helmet's visor was broken exposing my face, rage filled my green eyes. The dragon cycled me whips of dark energy sparking off its body the blood red eyes never left me as it circled, that's when I noticed the figure of me had no weapons his hands clinched in fists of rage. I saw myself and the dragon exchange words but never heard them as the blackness over came me and felt myself returning to my physical body.

I opened my eyes to find myself laying on what accounted to an oversized pillow, the ceiling above me was carved wood. I went to sit up only to find a certain black dragoness curled around me her head resting on my chest and she was purring softly. I just laid back resting against her shoulder staring at the ceiling as I stroked the side of her head causing her to purr louder. I couldn't help but to drift back to the dream.

'What was that were was I… It felt so real and the image, what does it mean.' but I was broken from my musings by a lick on my cheek. I chuckled and looked to my left to find Ombra smiling at me the tip of her tongue sticking out between her lips in what I thought was very cute face. She pressed her forehead to mine and whispered "Thank you"

"For what?" I asked stroking the frills on her cheek causing her to let out a satisfied murr of pleasure. "For defending me… you could have died, w-why did you do it?" She asked bring her head back to look me in the eye. I let out a weak smile because of the person she reminded me of.

"I use to love a woman… she was the girl of my dreams and the most beautiful women I had ever seen. But one day we were walking through the city, that's w-when… it happened" I took a breath to fight away the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes "a man dressed in all black with a hood that shadowed his face walked out from an alley with a pistol in his hand. he raised it and shot me in the chest once…" I pulled down my collar to show her the scar, Ombra grimaced. "I fell, I was unable to move all I could do was watch as he beat her to death… as he beat the only person I ever loved… her screams still haunt my dreams forever… her blood cover face screaming for help that I couldn't give." I couldn't hold it back any more the tears broke free and I held my head in my hands tears pouring between my fingers. I could faintly hear Ombra croon as she nuzzled my head, She kept telling me it was going to be alright and that it wasn't my fault, and that she would if she truly loved me she had forgiven me and was watching me from the stars above. I merely shook my head but she wouldn't give up she began to lick my cheek and when I tried to push her away she just came back. I finally raised my face to look at her as she had asked repeatedly while licking me on the side of my face.

"She loves you no matter how much you deny it, she will always love you and want you to be happy." With that said she kissed me right on the lips. I was shocked but there was so much care and love in the kiss that I couldn't resist the urge to melt into it. I soon found myself melting into it my hands at the sides of her head and I began to push back to her surprise, but she didn't break it. I felt her tongue brush against my teeth and I parted my mouth to give her entrance which she took quickly, Ombra's forked tongue dancing with mine and she gave out a moan in my mouth before parting . A strand of saliva connecting our mouths as we parted, I looked into her eyes and saw something that I hadn't seen for years since Rose's death. It was love and I loved it even though she wasn't human it was the love that counted, two souls seeking asylum from the world of pain and seeking the protection of love, true love.

She gave me lick on the forehead and stood up smiling "Want some breakfast, before I leave?" I looked at her puzzled "Your leaving?" She smiled at my question "I have to go to work silly, gems don't just grow on trees you know." I smiled and nodded, she nudged me and motioned for me to follow her.

"So what do you do?" I asked as I followed her through the house to the kitchen "I work at the city's orphanage, its become over crowded from the war. So many lost their parents during the war." I was puzzled Sparrow never told me about a war or anything of the sort. "War?"

She had just entered the kitchen when I asked, she turned looking at me puzzled. "You don't know?" I shook my head "I don't come from this world" It was the only explanation for everything because I was on an unknown planet and these creatures had about the technology of the Renaissance age on earth. Their cities looked it to.

Ombra still stared at me trying to fathom were I came from and probably to my guess what my world looked like what my civilization was like. "It would be easier for me to show you but I can't, I don't know how I got here." She smiled at me and gave me a look like she knew something I didn't. "There is a way but I'll have to ask my mother after work. But I do have a question, would you like to come to work with me?" she asked with a begging look "Come on the kids would love you." She begged. I thought for a moment, how bad could it be there just kids, I really need to learn to have foresight.

"Ok" I relented Ombra gave a little jump and went to cook breakfast. I sat down at the table and watched her cook, as I watched I couldn't help but think of how much she reminded me of Rose. The way she hummed and the way she was trying to get me do things, and how much she cared about me though she barely knew me. Rose was the same way when we first met, it was in high school, I had gotten in a fight which nearly put me in the hospital. I had a broken arm and a five broken ribs along with a mild concussion. I had gotten it all from protecting a girl I never knew, Rose, some muscle head was trying to come on to her and was getting ruff. Nobody tried to help so I stepped in and got my ass kicked royally, but I put a good dent in him enough for Rose to be able to run away and my friends ended up jumping in. It helps when you have one of the largest guys in the school as a friend for five years. He put the asshole in the hospital and was kind enough to drag me home which was only a half mile from school. I was out of school for a few weeks and everyday Rose would come by to nurse me and brought me that day's home work.

I was brought away from thoughts by the smell of a food, a plated of cooked meat and eggs with peppers. It's good to see food was the same on this world and smelled like mother's cooking. I dug in mumbling praises every now and again through a mouthful of food to Ombra's amusement who kept letting out giggles at my attempts of communication.

I was finished before she was half way done leaning back in my chair with a groan patting my belly, "If you keep cooking like that I'll hurt myself." Ombra laughed at my complement. She finished her food and I picked up my plate along with hers and washed them off in the basin in front of one of the many windows and stacked them in a drying rack. "So you ready to go" I asked, which caused her to laugh and she smiled "Not until you fix your fur." I gave her a puzzled look until I realized she was talking about my hair. Which had needed to be cut but I hadn't gotten the choice before the jump and it was now trying its hardest to become a porcupine incarnate. I tried to smooth it out with my hands and she laughed at my failed attempts to straighten out my hair.

I groaned in exasperation, Ombra smiled and walked up to me with a smirk and licked her paw and began flatting down my hair. "Your hair is going to smell like dragon spit" she said with a chuckle, I rolled my eyes "yeah and all that licking from earlier won't." I said sarcastically and earned myself a big lick across the side of my face. "Oh come on Ombra! You know Sparrow's going to point it out." She giggled and nuzzled my chest "So…". I smirked at her sly smile "Come on let's get going" I said with a smirk.

We left the house and started our way through the city, Ombra walked closely to me which drew a few stares which I met with my own look to their eyes causing them to look away. Hell a few dragons glared at me, jealous much, I couldn't help but give a snicker seeing as I must be a lucky guy by dragon standards. Also by mine Ombra was beautiful and second to none from the looks of the dragonesses that I've seen so far.

Our journey through the town brought us past a section of the market which resembled a Bazaar all most, the market was in tall closed in roofed buildings like those of a bazaar. They sold rugs, food, spices, and trinkets. As we passed by one of the tents outside of the roofed area I saw a piece of jewelry hanging from a stand it was a gorgeous emerald attached a golden chain, sapphires along the sides of the chain. I made a mental note to find a way for me to make some money… gems Ombra had called them earlier.

As we walked Ombra began to tell me about some of the hatchlings at the orphanage, as far as I could tell it sound like one back home. You stay there until you get adopted or until your old enough to live on your own, without a family. I knew more about orphanages than I let on, I was an orphan myself, My mother died in a car crash and my father in a mugging. To say the least I've had a ruff life and I don't feel like talking about it too much in one day.

"Carson?" Ombra asked "Yes?" I looked at her waiting for the question "Can you tell me a little about the world you're from?" I smiled and shook my head "In due time… in due time my dear." She rolled her eyes "Well here we are." She said pointing with her head to the building.

It was a large three story tall building made of white stone in a rectangular design, surrounded by a rot iron fence which one could tell was made with some good craftsmanship. A large male dragon at the entrance nodded to Ombra "Good morning Ombra, who's your friend?" He asked nodding towards me with a questioning look. "He's new to town and is staying with me and wanted to come and see the orphanage." He smiled at me and opened the gate "Hope you gave a good day."

"You too" I responded with a smile. I followed Ombra up to the front of the building, she stopped and looked me in the eye. "Just fare warning they can be a little rowdy and they nibble, but if you want a break from being attacked you can always tell them a story." I smiled, how bad could they be?

I followed her into the building and through the first floor corridors to the end of the hall and took a right in to the second room to the last. Into a large room that reminded me of the barracks from boot camp and my former home. As soon as we came in there was a cry of joy "Miss Ombra's here!"

In the blink of an eye we were sourrounded by twenty dragon, cheetah, and mole kids of varying ages, even a few teens if size was any judge. "She brought a friend too!" A little dragon bounced up and down at my feet, the little guy only came up to my knee. I knelt down, mistake number one, and smiled "What's up there little guy? Miss Ombra brought me to visit while she's here." Mistake number two, Ombra smiled and confirmed that I was visiting for today, fate sealed. The little dragon squealed in joy and tackled me to the stone floor, standing on my chest with his best valiant pose of victory. "Come on Carson let's take them outside to burn off some energy" I nodded at Ombra and she gathered up the little ones in a group, I lifted the little guy off my chest and set him down, as soon as the little guy hit the ground he was off like a bolt of lightning. Seeing as his scales were a bright yellow it was quite accurate as he zoomed off.

I got up and brushed some stray dirt of my uniform and looked around at the room before following, letting the old memories soak in. Some good and some bad but I didn't dwell on them, bolting off after the group.

I found them outside in front of the building, Ombra sitting down watching them play. I took a seat next to her and watched them play, making up games similar when I thought about it to what I use to play. There were a few screams of joy near the gate, which attracted Ombra's attention she laughed "looks like Volteer's here." I saw a tall yellow dragon which seemed to be of a decent age, about a good foot and half above me. The large dragon was instantly surrounded by a group of young ones.

He saw Ombra and began to make his way toward us, but he almost stopped when he noticed me a shocked look crossed his face. But he resumed his walk over having to take small steps so he wouldn't trip over the crowd he had accumulated at his paws. "Hello Miss Ombra, is it okay if I stay a bit?" Ombra nodded "Sure Volteer, but you know it's going to be impossible to get out without telling a story." She said with a chuckle.

Volteer's gaze moved to me, he squinted at me. "yes?" I asked, I seemed to have surprised him with my speech and he blundered with formalities. "I'm sorry for staring… I… I just haven't seen your kind before." I laughed "Of course you haven't, I'm not from this world." The dragon's jaw dropped and he just stared at me, looking me up and down. "Impossible…" he said

I merely looked at him with a raised eyebrow "You think it's impossible." I looked at Ombra "Can we show him too?" I asked wanting to prove this dragon wrong.

Ombra scratched the back of her head with a paw "Uh… Carson… he's a Guardian" I looked at her not seeing what she was trying to get at. "So…" Ombra looked at Volteer and back at me. "If we were to use the pool of visions he would be there he is one of our city's leaders."

I looked at Volteer "Oh…", Volter looked at Ombra "So you're going to get him to use the pool of visions?" Ombra nodded.

Several hours later I found myself climbing up an impossible high set of stairs, Ombra having already flown to the top. I climbed on until I reached the top gasping for air, Ombra was sitting at the top in front of a massive set of doors cleaning her claws. She looked at up to see me and I glared at her and growled "Traitor, you said it was only a few flights of stairs." She just giggled and motioned for me to follow her "Come on!"

I groaned and followed her into the temple and then through the long winding hallways, when we stopped at set of wooden double doors I thought my legs would fall off. She knocked on the doors and a voice boomed from inside. "Enter!" Ombra pushed open the doors and I followed her into the large room a group of dragons sat around a giant pool of water, I spotted Volteer.

"Ah Ombra and Carson is it… thank you for coming." I nodded and looked at the pool. "So can we start because my legs are going to fall off from the walk up here?" I asked, The immense green dragon across the basin from me smirked. Ombra guided me over to the water "Just lay down on this pillow and let your hand rest in the water"

I did as she asked laying down and hang my arm over the edge and my fingers resting in the water. "Whatever you think of we will be able to see, ok?" I nodded and closed my eyes.

I decided I would narrate for them "I come from a massive empire which stretches across many worlds, our cities hold millions at a minim." They gasped in awe as images of cities rolled be before them and different worlds of all sorts of variations. "I am a soldier of the UEC Navy our ships cross between worlds via warp drive tech. I am an ODST I drop from space to the surface of the planet in a metal pod." I let images of my point of view of falling down looking out of the small section of bullet resistant glass. Ombra gasped at what I use to do, I let images of our battle training and some of my fights with insurgents. "Ombra I told you about my past… the women, this is her at home coming dance…" I produced an Image of Rose, her red hair tied up and she was wearing a rose red dress that flowed around her. I cut off the stream of images and sat up "Do you believe me now?" I asked.


End file.
